Pakistan, after a long time, would be more than happy to set aside the off-field controversies as they chase their first series win in four years when the second Test begins in Wellington. Pakistan, whose last Test series victory came against the West Indies in 2006, would be hoping for a 2-0 sweep against an out-of-form New Zealand side.

Pakistan:

Pakistan did not have a great start to the New Zealand tour as they were defeated in their first tour match and also lost the T20 series after being beaten by New Zealand in the first two T20Is. However, they came back well to win the third game and went on to dominate the home team, crushing them by 10 wickets in the 1st Test in Hamilton.

The batting has looked solid for Pakistan although the batsmen need to convert good starts into big scores. Taufiq Umar and Misbah-ul-Haq looked composed in the first innings of the Hamilton Test as they got to their fifties, but failed to convert their knocks into big ones. Youngster Asad Shafiq, playing only his second Test looked all set for his maiden hundred before falling to Southee on 83. Azhar Ali, Younis Khan and Adnan Akmal also started well but failed to go on to get a big one. The big test for the Pakistan batsmen would come at Wellington as patience would be the key for them on a green track that awaits the visitors at the Basin Reserve.

The bowling department, which has always been the strength for Pakistan, did not disappoint as the likes of Umar Gul, Tanvir Ahmed, Wahab Riaz and Abdur Rehman were amongst the wickets. The efforts of these bowlers was mainly instrumental in Pakistan crushing New Zealand in only 3 days. Skipper Misbah rightly attributed the success at Hamilton to the efforts of the bowlers saying their hardwork on a flat and slow Hamilton track paved way for Pakistan's victory. The bowlers would look to perform in the same vein at Wellington but have to make sure that they do not get carried away at the sight of a green track.

New Zealand:

New Zealand's search for success in Test cricket seems to be a prolonged one as their lean patch continued at Hamilton. The Kiwis, since 2009, have played 15 Tests, of which only 2 have resulted in victories for the Black-Caps. They have lost 8 matches in this time-frame while drawing five games. Looking more into their performances, New Zealand, have actually won only 2 Test series at home since 2008 and both these victories came against Bangladesh.

The main reason for New Zealand's continued failure in the Test arena can be attributed to the failure of the batsmen. New Zealand coach John Wright did not mince words when saying that home team's performance was "unacceptable" and that the top order should be more disciplined in order to function better. One of the reasons for the batsmen's failures could be the fact that New Zealand has been mainly concentrating on the shorter forms of cricket in the past few years, which has in turn converted the Kiwi batsmen into one-dimensional players prone to playing wild shots and poor decision making.

Looking back at the Hamilton Test, some of the New Zealand batsmen got off to good starts in the first innings but failed to transform it into bigger contributions. Four batsmen, including Brendon McCullum, Martin Guptill and Kane Williamson got to their fifties but failed to go beyond that. Infact, the Kiwis were looking down the dumps at 177/7 before a half-century from Tim Southee lifted the hosts to a first innings total of 275. And while the Kiwi bowlers rendered a better performance in comparison, the least said the better about the Black-Caps batting in the second innings, having been bowled out for a paltry 110.

While the bowlers would focus on putting the ball at the right place and extract the most out of a bowler-friendly pitch, It is now upto the batsmen to show more application to silence the critics. Their performance would be crucial if New Zealand have any chance of squaring the two-Test series.

A look at the numbers:

7: Pakistan, chasing a 2-0 sweep, need a draw or a win at Wellington to register their 7th series win on Kiwi soil. Including the current series, Pakistan have played a total of 11 Test series in New Zealand. Their last series victory in New Zealand came in 2003 when they had registered a 1-0 win.

51.26: Brendon McCullum's batting average in Tests since Jan 2009. he is the only batsman to average more than fifty for New Zealand in the past two years. Ross Taylor has an average of 45.41 while Daniel Vettori averages 40.61 with the bat.

What the coaches say:

It's not that we've been playing bad cricket, it's just that the controversy has just been following us. It's very, very hard for the boys to keep going and keep hearing this but I'm very proud of these boys, they've stuck to the task and every morning they get up and keep positive: Waqar Younis

We've got to be disciplined enough to get the job done. You find in sport it's about hard work, learning from your mistakes and having the real inner desire to personally succeed. We've got players who have got that. We just have to get our house in order and concentrate on what we do: John Wright